Operation Flash - Origins

Origins

Okučani on the map of Croatia, 1991/1992. Serbian-held territories are highlighted in red.

The Serbs in western Slavonia took part in the organized rebellion against the government of the Republic of Croatia that had just proclaimed independence in June 1991, by proclaiming the Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia in August 1991. It formally joined the rest of rebel areas later in the year, resulting in the proclamation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) in December 1991.

Initially, the territory of the SAO Western Slavonia was relatively large and the rebel forces could theoretically advance north to the Hungarian border and sever the link between Zagreb and Osijek. This could have resulted in the formation of the infamous Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag line. In reality, the territory of the SAO Western Slavonia was mostly hills and forests, with a relatively poor communication infrastructure. Establishing and maintaining a base for such ambitious operations required more resources than the Serbian government was willing or able to invest. As a result, the SAO Western Slavonia didn't receive as much support from the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) as other parts of the RSK did. Most of its forces were local militias, poorly trained and lightly armed. The military weakness of SAO Western Slavonia became apparent in late 1991 when local Croatian forces, armed and equipped from the captured JNA garrison in nearby Varaždin, conducted a series of offensives which ultimately reduced SAO Western Slavonia to a relatively small pocket centered around Okučani. The borders of the rebel area in Western Slavonia were entrenched after the Sarajevo armistice in 1992. Its main supply lines were to Serb-held territory of SAO Bosanska Krajina, while its connection to SAO Krajina was a forested area south of Novska.

The position of SAO Western Slavonia became even more precarious with the escalation of the Bosnian War in 1992. Veljko Džakula and a group of other local rebel Serb politicians in 1992 and 1993 realized that it was untenable in the long run, and started secret negotiations with the Croatian government about eventual peaceful transfer of the rebel areas in Western Slavonia under Croatian authority. On 18 February 1993, Croatian and local Serb leaders (led by Džakula) signed the Daruvar Agreement. The Agreement was kept secret and was working towards normalizing life for the locals on the battlefield line. However, the Knin authorities learned of the deal - and Džakula was arrested by the authorities of the RSK and replaced by hardliners.

The UN negotiators saw this development as an encouraging sign that the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia could be ended peacefully. The authorities of Croatia and the rebel areas in Western Slavonia were encouraged to take part in various confidence building programs like family reunions. Some of those programs began to bear fruit in late 1994. The most important was the opening of the Zagreb-Županja motorway for Croatian traffic.

In late April 1995 there was an inter-ethnic incident which resulted in the deaths of a number of Croats and Serbs and in the disruption of the motorway. Hrvoje Šarinić, Franjo Tuđman's former Cabinet Chief, confirmed under cross-examination at the Slobodan Milošević trial a transcript detailing the then Croatian leadership's plan to stage an incident as a pretext for the offensive on May 1, although no linkage was shown to the abovementioned incident. Šarinić, as a witness at the same trial, downplayed the significance of such a plan, pointing out there were many incidents daily, and to his own experiences at being refused entry on the motorway, problems with reopening the oil pipeline, and finally stating that he was "very astonished that any incident was needed, because it was quite legitimate to free part of the country that had been occupied".